YEAR: 2023

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 11-12

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Clackamas County

LOCATION DETAILS: On the southeast part of the mountain (Mt. Hood) near Lamberson Butte. We had passed the ridge line and were camped at the treeline before the descent to Newton Creek

NEAREST TOWN: Rhododendron

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 35

OBSERVED: The night of August 11th 2023 my partner and I were sleeping along the Timberline Trail in the Mt.Hood National Forest. Around 12am we were awoken to the sound of wood knocks in the distance.

We had stored our backpacks several hundred feet from our campsite and had nothing on us but water, hoping to avoid any predators.

A total of 10 times he heard knocks in a series of 3-5 at a time over the course of three hours. A clear wood on wood sound from below us. I soon dozed back to sleep as we were pushing 40 miles. My partner stayed up the rest of the night spooked.

ALSO NOTICED: Our backpacks near by were not rummaged through, confirming no bear or cougar looking for food.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2

OTHER STORIES: I actually am reporting this after reading a report of august 2023 south of here. My partner and I both live in Plain, WA, a very rural dense area of forest. We are long time hikers and Washington natives. Both of us have never heard anything similar to this

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Night time. Clear summer night, stars and minimal cloud coverage

ENVIRONMENT: Between ridge and treeline

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Although this is a Class B (non-visual) incident, it is potentially more important than a typical Class B report of knocking sounds.

The behavior noted is unusual. The behavior combined with the location may indicate a recurring pattern, where a sasquatch will return to this particular area on Mount Hood at the same time of year expecting to connect with other sasquatches.

That is a definite possibility here, and thus a recommendation for where to go if you want to record these types of sounds at a predictable time and place.

These loud, powerful knocks sounds carried for a mile or more so you only need to be in the vicinity to hear them and record them .... and then help determine where they are coming from more precisely.

I spoke with these two backpackers at length by phone. They are in their early 20's but have backpacked enough times to take on multi-day treks.

On this occasion they nearing the end of hiking the full circuit (41.5 miles) of Timberline Trail around Mount Hood.

This huge loop trail is not for the faint of heart. You need to carry enough food for four days, and carry all that with all your other camping gear, and keep marching with that big load on your back up slopes and down slopes roughly 15 miles per day, at nearly 10,000 feet elevation where the air is thin, making it difficult to breathe enough oxygen. It is difficult to breathe at that elevation even if you are not doing anything physically demanding.

The loud knocks sounds were coming up from below their camp below Lumberson Butte, a short distance off Timberline Trail. Thus the knock maker would have been down in the drainage for South Forth of Cold Spring Creek.

The two backpackers estimate the knocker was between .5 and one mile away. They were certain the sounds were not gunshots or something mechanical. They were coming from a steep forested area with no roads or trails.

The knocking sounds did not move through the terrain. They all came from the same direction and distance, for three hours, and all sounded as if the knocker was hitting the same large hollow tree trunk.

He said it didn't sound like a regular stick hitting a hollow tree. He said the "stick" must have been "the size of a telephone pole."

That is hyperbole, obviously, but he was expressing how much bigger and deeper and louder this knocking sound was compared the knocking sound a human would be able to make.

He also mentioned that down in that remote east slope drainage there is a swath of burned trees visible (see photos below). He thought the hollow tree being struck could have been among those burned tree trunks.

Aside from the loud knocking, which occurred intermittently over three hours (not common), there were no other sounds like howls or whistles.

The time frame was roughly the warmest time of year, when the lower elevations in Oregon east of the Cascades can reach 90-100 degrees. At the elevation where the knocking sounds were heard, the temperatures at night were between 50-60 degrees.

At the time of posting this report online (early April) this whole area is still under several feet of show.


This report is important because this *may* be a location where a Sasquatch returns to, to do the same very purposeful thing at the height of summer every year.




























Below is the view down into the drainage (South Fork Cold Spring Creek) where the loud knocks were heard. Notice the burn area in the distance. The witnesses got the impression that the knocks were being made against a large hollow tree trunk in that vicinity -- possibly a burned tree hollowed out from fire.





Looking downslope along a different portion of Timberline Trail at the height of summer when plant growth is at its peak. Much of Timberline Trail is above the tree line.






The backpackers needed to carry enough food for four days, but not that much water, because there are enough places like this along the trail to drink and refill water containers.





This is what Timberline Trail looks like most of the way.






The witnesses -- two young backpackers from Washington State -- on the trail that day.





This photo was taken the night of Aug 11-12 from the camp site near Timberline Trail where the knocking sounds were heard in the drainage below them.







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About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email [email protected]